Making your own game boards?

[Wifezilla]

I am in the process of cutting up old shirts and making pente sets.
I am also adding a checker board to the backs.
http://www.pente.net/instructions.html

For markers, I bought a bag of polished natural small stones and separated out the black and white ones.

My son will be deploying to Iraq so I wanted to give him something that was washable, travels well, and we wont miss if it accidentally gets destroyed.

Have you made any game boards??

Any ideas of what else I can throw together with limited sewing skills?

 

[abifae]

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[Hattie the Hen]

What a great gift for your son Wifezilla -- will you show us a photo of a finished one? Are you making more for other soldiers?

Once, many years ago, I had a boyfriend who loved to play chess. I was deeply into very fine canvas embroidery at the time ( I travelled abroad all the time & this was an easy & light project to take with me). I embroidered him a game-board that looked like it was made of inlaid marble, using silk & metallic threads. When finished I mounted it on a board in a frame which I also marbled (with paints). It looked very convincing from a few feet away & he loved it.

Hattie

 

[Wifezilla]

I'll take pictures when I am done. I am going to make as many boards as I can with the fabric I have and give them all to Calvin. Then he can give them out to his buddies.

 

[MorelCabin]

I made a gameboard of "Our Town" monopoly with my dd for a school project once...it was great...she got an A+ and we had a blast doing it. Might be a wonderful keepsake if you can make the gameboard our of cloth! It'll make him feel right at home when he plays it:>) We used area bussiness cards for property ownership, and had the bussinesses on the board...the middle of the board was a map of the town...

 

[Wifezilla]

That's a cool idea. Of course, we could put pikes peak in the middle of ours

I completed 5 sets. Most have a checker board on the back. One has a separate checker board.

I am working on the last one now for hubby and I to keep. We need a backgammon board, so I am putting that on the back. Pics later, but now I need food and a shower.

 

[Wifezilla]

Got 5 done. Working on one to keep, but I got ambitious and and I am trying to make a backgammon board for the back and pente on the front. It will be a while before that one has any pictures. Here are the done ones...

The game bags. I made these out of old hats, leftover polar fleece, and one is a bag that used to be for a set of portable speakers that broke.

This was a goodwill shirt. Looks much better as a game board. It is a stretch fabric though. It was really hard to work with.

I forgot the stitch on the game board before I put the pente board on the polar fleece, so this set has as a separate checker set. The pente board was also an ugly goodwill shirt, but it is seersucker. MUCH easier to work with. The backing is polar fleece.

This one doesn't use the traditional grid set up but will still work fine for pente. It has a checkerboard on the back. I don't like the lack of contrast with the pieces so I will upgrade these.

Now, for money spent. The stones were part of a bag of polished stones I got at hobby lobby. The bag was huge and only $2.99. I hit a BOGO on the stones. PLENTY leftover for potted plants, etc... The black polar fleece backing was a remnant. I got that for $2. I used all of it. The last piece will be used on a 6th game board that hubby and I are keeping. The checkerboard was $3/yard. I bought one yard. I still have a LOT left. The flowered fabric was on sale for $2/yard. I have a lot of that left too. The yarn I already had. The leather cord I got on clearance for $4. I still have a lot of that left too. The shirts were both $1.99 I think.

Grand total for 5 (well 6 actually) game boards with material left over for several more...
$17.97

Price of 1 new pente set... $24
Price of a used vintage set like the one I learned to play on... $25

 

[FarmerDenise]

That is a really nice idea and they look great. I never heard of the game Pente. Which is kinda surprising, since I grew up playing all kinds of games.
I think that will be a nice thing for your son to have while he is deployed.